System and method for career website optimization

ABSTRACT

A method of managing career opportunities is provided. In some embodiments, a method for providing career and job listing websites and optimizing the career and job listing websites for search engine optimization is provided. In various embodiments, the method comprises creating a career website that mirrors a company&#39;s website, extracting job information from the company, and optimizing the job information for maximum search engine placement.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to systems and methods for managing careeropportunities and a system and method for developing a career website(or jobsite) and/or directing potential candidates to a company website,and more particularly to developing a career website and optimizingcontent of the career website for search engine placement.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Current internet technologies for listing career opportunities or openjob positions include, at least, listing available positions on acompany's own website and/or listing the job for a fee on websites thatspecialize in posting job listings (i.e., job boards), such as Monster®,Careerbuilder®, HotJobs®, etc., or posting on other sites

Potential candidates frequently use search engines (such as Google® orYahoo®) to perform job related searches. Indeed, thousands of searchesare performed daily to locate jobs. Companies (and job boards) arecompeting for candidate traffic from these major search engines to drivecandidates to their posted jobs, whether posted on their own corporatewebsite or on a website that specializes in posting job listings for afee. Companies competing for candidate traffic to their career websitescan use a “Pay-per-click” advertising option. Using pay-per-clickadvertising, a company pays for ads for their jobs to be displayed atthe top of a search engine results. The company further pays for eachuser that clicks on each advertisement.

Companies that list job openings on their own websites typicallystruggle to drive traffic to their website. Often, the listings areinvisible to search engine spiders for a variety of reasons, some ofwhich are discussed below. At minimum, job listings on company web sitestypically do not rank highly in organic search results. This is because,even when search engines can see the listings, the listings do notusually carry useful keywords in the areas that search engine spidersuse to categorize and index a website, such as the page title, URL orfile name, and metatags (keywords). Company websites further typicallydo not utilize strategic capabilities to help the search engines toindex either their career site or specific online job pages.

There are several problems that often occur on company job sites thatprevent search engines from correctly indexing the job sites. In mostcases, the company website requires users to enter a keyword to initiateaccess to the job and does not provide direct links to online joblistings (from the careers home page). Requiring key word entry beforediversion to job listings prevents search engines from seeing and/orindexing the job content. Also, if a company's search results or jobview page lead to a pop up window, the pop up window blocks searchengines from seeing and/or indexing the job content. In addition,company websites frequently require people to register before gettingaccess to the job content or search results. Requiring such registrationalso generally blocks search engines from seeing and/or indexing the jobcontent. If company search results are displayed in a frame window (aweb page within a web page), they are not accessed by search enginesand, thus, search engines are blocked from seeing and/or indexing thejob content.

Many of the issues that lead to blocking search engines from seeingand/or indexing job content are caused by companies using third partyservices such as Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). ATS systems helpcompanies manage their active job listings and process and manageapplicants for each online job. When companies use third party servicesto host job content, the companies typically are required to use pop-upwindows or frames in order to embed the third party content within thecompany's corporate site—or to link to it externally. Further, even ifsearch engines were able to access the job content, most ATS systems arenot built with search engine optimization architecture. Specifically,search engines give more weight to sites that have keywords in pagetitles, page names, meta keywords located in job type, meta data in thedescription including top searched keywords, company name, or locationinformation. These parameters generally are not followed by ATS systems.Accordingly, even if a search engine is able to see and/or index the jobcontent, the job is unlikely to be placed highly in organic searchresults.

Companies that use job boards to list their job openings have furtherchallenges. A job board typically demands a fee for the service, whichcan be a deterrent for a company, especially when the company isconsidering multiple job boards. Additionally, job boards list availablepositions from competing companies, and in most cases, requirecandidates to register with the job board in order for them to apply toany specific position. This typically makes the candidates resume andcontact information available to all companies who have access to theresume database. Accordingly, recruiters from competing companies cantry to redirect applicants away from certain job listings or from thecompanies having positions for which they originally applied online.Also, in the past, millions of candidates have joined job boards usingtheir resume and personal contact information which has resulted in ahigh level of unsolicited marketing contact (spam), along with majorprivacy breaches within even the most popular job boards. This hasresulted in candidates avoiding this approach to job searching, andtrying to use the major job boards to find company job postings directlyusing the major search engines. Traffic through job board websites canbe significantly less than traffic through search engine websites, e.g.,Google®, Yahoo®, etc.

If a company's career site and job content is correctly optimized forsearch engine indexing, the chances of the company's jobs and careersite showing up in “organic” search engine results is enhanced withoutrequiring fees for pay-to-click advertising or hosting on job boardwebsites. However, teaching recruiters or managers to write job titlesand descriptions with relevant keywords, and updating them periodicallyas keywords change, is typically not plausible, nor is it plausible toteach companies to insert HTML codes to optimize corporate job listingsor websites. Thus, there is a need in the art for systems and methods tohost career website content and to optimize the job postings for searchengine placement, resulting in companies driving direct candidatetraffic to their career website and job content online.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Systems and methods for managing career opportunities, for developing acareer website (or job website), and/or for directing potentialcandidates to a company website are provided. In some embodiments,system and methods for developing a career website and optimizingcontent (specifically targeted landing pages and job web pages) of thecareer website for optimum search engine placement are provided.

In one embodiment, a method for search engine optimization is provided.The method comprises establishing base information, creating a site,creating a category page on the site, and creating at least one keyword.The method further comprises associating the at least one keyword withthe at least one category page and associating the base information withthe at least one category page. At least one characteristic of thecategory page remains static regardless of the base informationassociated with it.

In another embodiment, a method for managing career opportunities isprovided. The method comprises creating a job site, determining hiringgoals, and creating a category page. The hiring goals include a locationkeyword and a skill keyword and the location keyword and the skillkeyword are associated with the category page. The method furthercomprises creating a job listing page based on an available careeropportunity and linking the job listing page to the category page. Thelocation keyword and the skill keyword of the category page remainstatic regardless of the linked job listing page.

In yet a further embodiment, a method for managing career opportunitiesis provided. The method comprises creating a job site, determininghiring goals, and creating a category page. A subscribe button isprovided on the category page. The hiring goal includes a locationkeyword and a skill keyword and the location keyword and the skillkeyword are associated with the category page. The method furthercomprises creating a job listing page based on an available careeropportunity and linking the job listing page to the category page. Thelob-job listing page includes an apply button. The location keyword andthe skill keyword of the category page remain static regardless of thelinked job listing page. The method further comprises tracking visitorsto the job site and generating reports based on the visitors to the jobsite.

While multiple embodiments are disclosed, still other embodiments of thepresent invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art fromthe following detailed description, which shows and describesillustrative embodiments of the invention. As will be realized, theinvention is capable of modifications in various obvious aspects, allwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.Accordingly, the drawings and detailed description are to be regarded asillustrative in nature and not restrictive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

Further objects, features and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying figures showing illustrative embodiments of theinvention, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an overview of a method for creating a jobsite inaccordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 2 illustrates a jobsite home page in accordance with oneembodiment;

FIG. 3 illustrates a job optimization example in accordance with oneembodiment;

FIG. 4 illustrates a category page in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 5 illustrates a keyword database in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 6 illustrates an architecture for a page in accordance with oneembodiment;

FIG. 7 illustrates a job listing page in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 8 illustrates a renaming grid in accordance with one embodiment;

FIG. 9 illustrates an executive overview report in accordance with oneembodiment;

FIG. 10 illustrates a marketing summary report in accordance with oneembodiment; and

Throughout the figures, the same reference numerals and characters,unless otherwise stated, are used to denote like features, elements,components, or portions of the illustrated embodiments. Moreover, whilethe present invention will now be described in detail with reference tothe figures, it is done so in connection with the illustrativeembodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for managingcareer opportunities, for developing a career website (or jobsite),and/or for directing potential candidates (doing job related searches)to a company website, and more particularly to developing a careerwebsite and optimizing content of the career website for search engineplacement

Generally, in various embodiments, the systems and methods take baseinformation relating to corporate jobs, create a category page orlanding site for that base information, and optimize the information tothe category page. When a candidate clicks on “apply” on page on thejobsite, a redirect URL may be used to direct the candidate back to theclient's applicant tracking system to begin the apply process.

FIG. 1 illustrates a first embodiment of a method 10 for career siteoptimization. The system and method establishes information as baseinformation for creating a job website [block 12]. Generally, the baseinformation may be job listing or career information. The baseinformation may be information presented on a client site (typically acompany or corporate website). Alternatively, the base information maybe information provided by a client. Further, the base information maybe information conveyed to or gathered by the system in any suitablemanner, such as by scraping.

As shown, a site (also referred to herein as a “jobsite”) is created topresent the base information [block 14]. In various embodiments, thesite may be designed to substantially mimic a client site (such as oneused as a source for the base information), as will be described morefully below. Category landing pages may be created based on the baseinformation [block 16]. Keywords are created for the job listings orcareers in the base information [block 18]. The base information may bescanned for establishing such keywords. Identifiers such as Job URLs,MetaKeywords, and Titles are created based on the base or jobinformation [block 20]. Location mapping may further be performed on thebase information [block 22]. Job optimization is performed for each joblisted in the base information [block 24]. This may comprise, forexample, using the keywords, identifiers, and mapped locations of blocks18-22.

The system and method further facilitate exporting information. Forexample, information from the base information may be sent to thirdparties. Thus, as shown in FIG. 1, files for submission to third partysites may be created based on the base information [block 26]. These maycomprise, for example, XML and RSS files. The system may also notifysubscribers of job listings matching predefined criteria using email,RSS, or other communication needs. [block 28].

Candidates seeking to apply for a job may be received and diverted tothe client website [block 30]. Additionally, the system and method mayprovide data to the client based on use of the system [block 31]. Forexample, a client may be provided with information regarding potentialcandidates.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, not all of the stepsof blocks 12-31 of FIG. 1 may be performed in various embodiments of thesystems and methods described herein. Further, in some embodiments,additional steps may be performed.

Each of blocks 12 through 31 will be described more fully below.

Many companies have websites with career information and/or jobpostings. For the purposes of this disclosure, company career websitesmay be referred to as client sites. In some cases, these websites areonly available internally. In other cases, these websites are availableexternally but are not “optimized”. For example, many company careerwebsites require keyword entry before diversion to job listings, providesearch results in a pop-up window or frame, require registration, orother. Search engines do not follow links, pop-ups, or frames and, thus,search engines are substantially prevented from seeing and/or indexingthe job content. Thus, a potential candidate searching for jobs using asearch engine may not be directed to the company career website.

In accordance with some embodiments, the system and method describedherein may be used to take information from the company career websiteand repackage it in an optimized manner such that potential candidatesare directed to the client job listings on the job site. The system andmethod can further be used to direct the candidate back to the clientsite to apply for the job associated with the job listing.

Referring to block 12, any suitable method of gathering base informationmay be used. In some embodiments, the base information may relate to aspecific job listing or career opportunity. In other embodiments, thebase information may relate to a long-term hiring goal. In someembodiments, the base information may be provided through scraping aclient website or may be provided by the client, for example in the formof a file. Scraping refers to a system that goes to the corporate siteand performs the necessary searches to gather currently active jobsposted within the corporate system. Scraping may be performed routinely,such as daily The scraping system extracts the job file into a formatthat we can import and optimize for our purposes. Some companies utilizeATS systems for their career sites. In accordance with some embodiments,the ATS system thus may have a file and that file may be provided forestablishing the job information. Thus, a preexisting job file may beused to obtain the base information. Alternatively, a company mayprovide base information directly or indirectly in any suitable manner.

Referring to block 14, a site (which may be referred to herein as a“jobsite”) is created to present job listing or career information fromthe client site. FIG. 2 illustrates a sample jobsite home page. Asshown, the jobsite homepage may include client information 40, a searchbox 42, and a category pages listing 44. The client information 40 maybe, for example, a client header or a client description and mayfacilitate perception by a potential candidate that the job site isassociated with the client. Thus, the client header and clientdescription may reflect the brand of the client, may contain contentregarding employment at their company, and include links to theirprimary corporate website. The search box 42 provides functionality forcandidate searching of jobs associated with the client. The categorypages listing 44 may list the jobs according to geography, job category,or other as set on the category pages. Generally, the links may betargeted to specific category pages such as those containing Locationand Occupation/Skill and Job keywords. The jobsite home page thus isitself optimized for indexing by search engines. In the embodimentshown, the category pages listing 44 lists jobs by geography and jobcategory. A user may click on one of the job categories listed to go toa category page.

It is to be appreciated that once a jobsite is created, it is notnecessary to create a new jobsite for posting of new jobs in anoptimized manner. Further, in some embodiments, multiple jobsites may becreated (described below). In accordance with some embodiments, thejobsite is created with headers, footers, style sheets, and/or othervisual cues that correspond to a client site such that the jobsite hasthe look and feel of the client site. In some embodiments, the jobsitemay substantially mimic or mirror a client site. Thus, in someembodiments, a potential candidate may not be aware that the jobsite isnot the client's actual career site. Further, the jobsite may bedesigned such that navigation from the jobsite (e.g., through clickingon a job listing) may direct the potential candidate to the client siteand, in some embodiments, directly to a job listing on a client site.Thus, the jobsite may operate substantially transparently.

Generally, the jobsite is created and optimized such that search enginesdirect traffic to the jobsite. A series of search engine optimized (SEO)categories may be created and potential candidates may view current joblistings and/or subscribe for updates on future job listings. Becausethe site is optimized, as described, for search engines and classic jobsearching sites, the jobsite may place highly in organic placement basedon keywords. Thus, a potential candidate using a search engine to searchfor jobs may receive the jobsite as a result. The potential candidateclicks through the results to arrive at the jobsite. The potentialcandidate can then click on “apply” on the jobsite and be directed tothe client site to begin the apply process. Thus, the client site mayhave one or more hyperlinks to the client site. This enables usinginformation and optimizing the information without altering the clientsite or navigating around client site firewalls.

In some embodiments, more than one jobsite may be created for aparticular client. For example, a client may have an “engineer” jobsite,a “management” jobsite, and/or other jobsites. This permits the url tobe optimized for searching. For example, keywords such as job skill orlocation may be included in the url. Alternatively, a client may have asingle jobsite with trees to a plurality of job listings, such as toengineer job listings or management job listings.

Optimization of the jobsite is performed, for example, in blocks 16-24.Generally, base information is assessed and developed for optimization.In accordance with one embodiment, a keyword, job function, and/or zipcode analysis system may be used to assess the base information (such asa job description or listing). In some embodiments, a rule based systemmay be used to rewrite a job function or description to have relevantkeywords in the job title, metatags, header, text, etc., as describedmore fully below. The system may also add information such as zip codes,locations, or other data. Generally, jobs may be given keyword names tolead to high organic search placement. This can be done for multiplecategories in any given job posting.

FIG. 3 illustrates a job optimization example. Specifically, FIG. 3illustrates a client site before job optimization and a jobsite afterjob optimization. Information such as Page Title 46, Filename/URL 48,Job Title 50, tagging of Job Title 50, MetaKeywords, and MetaDescription52 may be optimized for search engine placement. As shown, the clientsite has a page title 46 including only a company name. The jobsite hasa page title including the Job Title 50 and Location information. Theclient site does not have a filename and thus provides no keywords atthis layer for indexing. The jobsite has a filename/URL 48 including JobTitle 50 and Location information. The Job Title 50 on the client siteis truncated to Phys Therapist. As can be appreciated, applicants do nottypically search for truncated job titles. The Job Title 50 on thejobsite is translated to Physical Therapist/Therapy, both beingfrequently searched titles for the job. The Job Title 50 on the clientsite is not emphasized through tagging. The Job Title 50 on the jobsiteis emphasized with a Header Tag (H1) and Bolded. On the client site,there are no MetaKeywords or MetaDescription 52 of the job. On thejobsite, MetaKeywords and MetaDescription 52 are provided containing JobTitle and Location information.

Various methods for developing the optimized information andpresentation of such information shown in FIG. 3 will now be described.

Referring to block 24, category pages may be created based on the baseinformation. These may be referred to SEO categories, talent landingpages, or targeted recruitment category landing pages. A problem withachieving organic search placement for job listings on a company websitestems from frequently changing hiring needs. Search engines tend toreward higher placement to pages that have been on the internet for alonger period of time and which are updated frequently. As can beappreciated, the job listings and/or job listing pages change to reflectchanging job availability, job requirements, etc. Thus, job content maybe online for a short period of time, for example only days or weeks.This substantially prevents the pages from having a lasting presence onsearch engines, and therefore does not provide sustained candidatetraffic to the client site. Accordingly, as companies have new pagesand/or listings for new job openings, they sacrifice search placementand traffic to their pages.

Creating category pages [block 24] thus may comprise determining longrange hiring pages for a client and creating pages that may be on theinternet for a long period of time and updated frequently, both beingrewarded by search engines. Category pages thus may be aimed at thetypes of job functions and skills for which a client may hire. The pagesmay include the location names of each job function, and specificcontent within the pages that explain information specifically for thistype of candidate desired by the hiring organization. The pages thus arestructured with core information of the job: job title/occupation name,location (city/state/market name), skill or competency keywords, andsalary or job/career related keywords such as “jobs”, “careers”, or“position”. The category pages may be branded to the client or companyand may contain specific content relevant to the career about which thepage is focused.

The category pages may be designed to automatically display matchingjobs for each category based on the data such as job title, location,skill, salary, etc., to provide candidates with relevant informationwithin a single page—that remains indexed on the internet and withinsearch engines for months or years, helping the client site to achievehigher search engine position over time.

An example category page is shown at FIG. 4. As shown, the category pagelists jobs relating to a job category in a specific location. Inalternative embodiments, other parameters may be used for the categorypage. Upon prompting by a search of a user, the system and method maydynamically search job content on the jobsite and bring the user to acategory page listing the matched jobs. Each job listing on the categorypage may link to a job listing page (shown and described with referenceto FIG. 6) for that job listing.

Accordingly, in some embodiments, the category page includes core jobinformation. Each job listing page similarly includes core jobinformation. Job listing pages having the same core information as thecategory page are linked to the category page. The category page isconfigured to automatically display links to the job listing pageshaving the same core information.

Hidden keywords may be provided within the category page such that if auser subscribes to the client site, the user is tagged with the hiddenkeywords, such as the location and keyword. SEO categories may targetonline demographics of candidates for particular job openings, e.g.,engineering, nursing, marketing, etc. SEO categories may exist eventhough no current job openings are available for that category. Thus,for example, a category page may exist for a certain location andoccupation combination and, if no current job openings are available,the category page may state “No current listings.” An applicant may vieweach category for job openings and may further subscribe to a categoryfor updates regarding future job openings in that category by, forexample, providing contact information. In one embodiment, an applicantmay subscribe by providing an email address.

Category pages may include information such as location, job titles,targeted skills and the keywords “jobs” or “careers” or “salary”. In theembodiment shown in FIG. 4, location, occupation, and the keyword “jobs”are embedded into the Page Title 56 of the web page. Location,Occupation, and the keywords “jobs” are embedded into the page URL orfilename 58. Location, Occupation, and the keyword “jobs” are used inHeader Tags (H1 tags) 60 and are bolded within the page. Jobs matchingthe location and occupation are then dynamically called into thecategory page 62 for the user.

Creating category pages 62 may include calling of jobs into the categorypages, RSS feed creation (described with respect to block 26), and emailmatching and marketing (described with respect to block 30).

Block 18 of FIG. 1 relates to creation of keywords for the jobs. Thebase information may be scanned for establishing keywords for inclusionin the job listings of the jobsite. A rules based system may be employedto assess words in the base information against keywords that are usedfrequently on search engines. Further, the system may use internallanguage or language provided by a client to optimize the jobdescription. Terms related to the internal language may be found andused in the job description. An interpretation layer may be developedand keyword research data used to optimize the job listing. The systemmay further change keywords in the description or listing to optimizethe description or listing for searching. For example, the system maychange a listing “engineer job” to “engineering job”. These keywords maybe embedded into the filename, title, meta keyword, within the page, orother.

Generally, search engines look at the number of keywords used on a page.Keyword spamming, or using more than ten keywords, typically results inthe search engine ignoring the keywords. Thus, the system and method mayselect keywords for association with a job posting such that no morethan ten keywords are used and such that these ten keywords are the mostlikely to be searched by a potential candidate. Accordingly, the systemand method determines and/or establishes keywords to be used. One methodof such determination is described with respect to FIG. 5. As shown inFIG. 5, in one embodiment, a database of keywords including a keywordcategory and subcategories for each keyword may be established. A heatindex is set for each keyword wherein the heat index reflects the numberof times potential candidates search using that keyword. FIG. 5illustrates an example of three search term phrases and the search countfor each search term phrase. Dynamic updating of the heat index mayinfluence which keywords to associate with a job. Further, using theheat index, keywords previously associated with a job may be reassessed.The search count influences which keyword to use.

Referring to block 20 of FIG. 1, identifiers such as job URLs, metakeywords, and titles may be created and may include the keywords. Asnoted, search engines typically ignore keywords when more than tenkeywords are used. Thus, to optimize search engine ranking of the page,fewer than ten keywords should be used. Further, search engines rankpages based on appearance and sequence of the keywords. For example,“Chicago audit jobs” may receive higher placement in search engineresults than “audit jobs in Chicago” merely because the keywords are outof a search sequence that the search engines index on. Currently, searchengines tend to rank job listings more highly when the listingcomprises, in this order, location, occupation or skill name, and thencareer/job/salary. It is to be appreciated that the keywords listed andthe order of their listing may change over time depending on therankings given by search engines and that the system and methoddescribed herein may be applied to different keywords, ordering ofkeywords, number of keywords used (e.g., if search engines look at morethan 10 keywords), and other as technology develops. Generally, invarious embodiments, the system and method identifies or createskeywords (block 18), creates identifiers for the job listing (block 20),and creates a keyword sequence for the keywords to be used in theidentifiers. This may be embedded in a grid table elements.

FIG. 6 illustrates sample architecture for a page with grid tableelements. As shown, a page can have several identifiers such as Title70, Filename 72, Metadescription 74, and Meta-keyword 76. Keywords maybe associated with each of these identifiers. In the embodiment of FIG.6, five keywords 78, 80, 82, 84, and 86 are associated with each ofthese identifiers. The search engine rates the page based on thekeywords associated with the identifiers. For optimized rating, the samekeywords may be placed in the same order for each identifier. Thus, asshown, each of the keywords 78, 80, 82, 84, and 86 appear in the sameorder after each of the identifiers, Title 70, Filename 72,Metadescription 74, and Meta-keyword 76. The keyword farthest to theleft, 78, is identified by the search engine as the first keyword.

As noted, each job listing on the category page may link to a joblisting page for that job listing. FIG. 7 illustrates such job listingpage. In the embodiment shown, the job listing page includes a clientheader, a subscription box, a job description, and an apply feature. Thesubscription box enables a potential candidate to enter contactinformation to be contacted when similar jobs are posted. The jobdescription includes a Title, a Date Posted, a Location, and a PositionDescription. In various embodiments, more or less data about the job maybe posted. Several descriptors on the page may be optimized for searchengines. Job Title keywords may be automatically embedded into the PageTitle 46 of the web page based on the search engine optimized title. JobTitle keywords may be automatically embedded into the URL File Name 52of the web page. Job Title keywords may be automatically put into HeaderTags (H1) 60 and bolded on the web page. Job Title keywords may beautomatically put into MetaKeywords in the source code of the web pageand/or the MetaDescription 52 of the web page.

By clicking the apply feature, the potential candidate is directedtowards an application page. The application may be on the client sitesuch that, upon selection of the apply feature, the potential candidateis navigated to the client site. Such navigation may include directingthe potential candidate directly to the job as listed on the clientsite, to a career index on the client site, or to a home page of theclient site. In alternative embodiments, the potential candidate mayapply on the jobsite

Returning to FIG. 1, block 22 relates to location mapping of jobs.Location mapping may be performed on the base information. Such locationmapping facilitates searching. Actual location of jobs is becomingincreasingly important as more jobs are listed on the web and a genericsearch based on a broad location provides too many hits. The system andmethod thus may scan the base information and look for stateabbreviations, state names, city names, county names, and or zip codeinformation to determine specific location information to be included inthe job information. If the base information does not include, forexample, a zip code or area code, location information such as zip codeor state may be attributed based on other information in the baseinformation. For example, the system and method may include a clientfacility index for a particular client and, if the base informationincludes facility information, the client facility index may bereferenced to determine actual location of the job.

In various embodiments, additional optimization steps may be performed.Further, in some embodiments, some of the listed steps may not beperformed. Thus, block 24 refers to job optimization for each job listedin the base information. Job optimization may comprise rules mapping torename job titles and/or augmenting the job information with content toenhance search results. For example, a client site may have a listingfor the title Electrical Engr. A potential candidate, however, is morelikely to search for an “Electrical Engineer” than an “Electrical Engr.”Thus, the system and method may rename the job listing to “ElectricalEngineer.” Further, alternate titles may be added in the content area ofthe job. One method for renaming job titles is described with respect toFIG. 8.

FIG. 8 illustrates a renaming grid. A first column lists a name of therenaming rule. A second column lists the job title or keyword associatedwith the job content that is being renamed. The third column lists thenew keyword and/or code that is used to replace the job title orkeyword. The renaming grid may change terminology, for example expandinga truncated job title. Additionally, the renaming grid may changeformatting, for example putting bold tags around the keyword or doingother formatting to optimize the formatting.

The job information thus may be optimized so that the information isrecognized by search engines, including the major search engines, suchas Google®, Yahoo®, Lycos®, etc. As previously noted, the jobinformation may also be submitted to the search engines, job sites orjob boards, and in some embodiments, submitted to free job sites or jobboards, such as Google Base®, Simply Hired®, Indeed.com®, Craigslist®,etc. Accordingly, active job listings may written to a site map (a sitemap is a list of active web pages within a website that assists thesearch engines with indexing the content within the site). The site mapmay be submitted to major search engines on a regular basis, forexample, every day. In accordance with one embodiment, several “jobfeeds” or files may be created for delivery to several different searchsystems or job sites based on the xml file requirements used by eachsearch system or job site. This enables the search system or job site tomore easily index the job description. In one embodiment, the joblisting may be submitted to organic search sites and free job sites.

Referring to block 26 of FIG. 1, files including the optimized jobinformation may be created for submission to third parties. A list ofactive jobs, along with the full description for each job, is createdinto a file (job feed) for third parties. The third parties can extractthe job content and import into their websites. The third parties aretypically free job sites. This also facilitates direction of potentialcandidates to the job site and/or the client site. Currently, websitesare available that post jobs on their site. Thus, job feeds may besubmitted to the websites. For example, a job feed may be submitted toany job aggregator (free job posting sites or job search sites).Further, aggregators are available that search major career sites but donot post jobs on their site. Aggregators use a “feed” that generates alink to the job posting. This feed may include a link to the job site orthe to client site. The feed may be an RSS feed (simple syndication)created based on a category. The feed is optimized by including thekeywords, etc. described with respect to blocks 12-24 of FIG. 1.

The system and method may further be used to actively market topotential candidates and/or to provide further data to clients.

Block 28 of FIG. 1 relates to active marketing. A potential candidatemay register with the system to be notified of jobs of specificcategories, as noted above. The system may then match jobs to thesubscriber based on, for example, location, category, and/or keyword.The system may then notify the subscriber of the job via email or othercommunication means. As noted, hidden keywords may be provided withinthe category page such that if a user subscribes to the client site, theuser is tagged with the hidden keywords, such as the location andkeyword. Thus, merely by clicking a button on the jobsite, a user ismatched to specific categories of jobs based on the page from which theuser subscribed. Thus, for example, the button for clicking may read“Notify me of similar job listings.” Further, a user may subscribethrough the client site (after, for example, clicking through thejobsite to the client site). A client may have an embedded API(Application Protocal Interface) on the client's own career site whichwould allow them to gather subscribers directly from their own careersite in addition to the jobsite. In alternative embodiments, a subscribebutton may be provided where the user is directed to a form for fillingout information about jobs they would like to be notified of. Regardlessof manner of and type of subscription, the user may further be providedwith subscription management and category management tools so that theycan discontinue receiving mail messages from any particular jobsite.

After a user subscribes, the system and method matches new job postingswith the subscribed user and sends information to the user about new jobpostings. Such information may be sent on a timed basis, for example aweekly job update, or on a listing basis, such as every time a relevantjob is posted, or other. The system and method may develop a custommessage for each user. For example, the system and method may maintainan index or database of previous applicants. In some cases, the clientmay provide the database of people who have applied. The system andmethod thus can send a different job notification message to asubscriber who has previously applied than to a subscriber who has not.For example, a notification to someone who has previously applied maysay: “You have applied to us in the past. Here are similar jobs forwhich you may want to consider applying.” Further, job notifications maybe sent to employees of a client. This type of notification may bereferred to as an employee referral notification. A notification maythus be sent to an employee in a certain category listing available jobsand explaining that they may be eligible for a referral bonus if someoneapplies for it. Thus, the system and method provides recruitmentmarketing customization.

Block 30 of FIG. 1 illustrates receiving candidates and directing thecandidates to the client site. From a job listing on the jobsite, acandidate may select to apply for the job. Such selection may comprise,for example, clicking a button that says “Apply now.” The button canlink directly linked to the client site. In some embodiments, thecandidate is linked directly to an application page for that job.Alternatively, the candidate may be linked to a job listing for that jobfrom which the candidate can then choose to apply. Such direct linkingis facilitated by tagging the “Apply now” button. Alternatively, acandidate may simply be sent to the client site where the candidate hasto search for the client job posting. Generally, in various embodiments,the systems and methods creates a jobsite, take base information, createa category page or landing site on the jobsite for that baseinformation, and optimize the information to the category page. When acandidate selects to apply for a job from a job listing on the jobsite,a redirect URL may be used to direct the candidate back to the clientsite. The redirect URL may also be optimized with parameters. Theseparameters may contain, for example, the exact job for which theapplicant is applying and includes the source code of where thecandidate arrived to the site from. This directs the candidatespecifically to the job posting or apply page for that job on the clientsite. The source tag, along with ATS systems, may indicate where thecandidate came from. This information can be used to assess what sourcesare driving the traffic to facilitate optimization of job posting forusability and source tracking.

Accordingly, block 30 of FIG. 1 relates to providing information to aclient. The client may be given information regarding the source ofpotential candidates based on IIS, cookies, keywords, etc. This may bedone, for example, by setting hidden tags in the ATS systems.Information relating to the exact search terms used to drive traffic tothe job site and the ranking history of their specific job categorypages on major search engines may be provided to the client.

Thus, traffic reports and other statistical reports may be created andprovided to the company so that the company can manage the value of themirror site. For example, a company may be able to track and manage theapplicants who subscribe to the company's listings and/or SEOcategories. Furthermore, a company may be able to track the number ofvisitors, the number of click throughs, the number of applicants whohave applied for each listing, etc. Other site statistics, such as butnot limited to, SEO and mirror site page rankings for a particularsearch engine may further be provided.

More specifically, because traffic is driven to the jobsite, analyticsmay be done on the search results. All of the traffic driven to thejobsite (organic traffic, pay-per-click—if done) may be analyzed.Reports may be generated showing new versus returning visitors, wherevisitors are coming from geographically, top keywords, where sourcescome in from, placement location with certain categories, or other.Analysis may be done of where visitors click from the jobposting—benefits, apply, etc. Analysis may be done of how many peopleclicked on the apply button and, of those, how many people applied.Reports may be generated on a daily basis, weekly basis, monthly basis,real time, or other. FIGS. 9 and 10 illustrate reports based on trafficto the jobsite. FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary executive overviewincluding visits and pageviews, a map overlay, visits by new andreturning users, and visits by source. FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplarymarketing summary showing top five sources, top five keywords, and topfive campaigns. Alternative reports may be generated based on traffic tothe jobsite.

Search keywords and/or referring source used by potential candidates mayfurther be extracted. In one embodiment, the method further includesautomatically extracting the search keywords and referring source of acandidate to the jobsite. This information is captured and may beprovided to the client via reports such as described above or via theirATS system. The system and method, or the client, may use theinformation to determine which referring sources are providing the mosttraffic, and to learn what keywords and referring sources are drivingtraffic to the jobsite. The jobsite may be dynamically updated based onsuch information.

Example Optimization and Use

As can be seen in the illustration below, in one embodiment, the jobsitemay be populated with job information, including available job openings.This job information may be extracted from the client site or may beprovided by the company in any other format. The job information may beextracted or otherwise received from the company at any time or at anyperiodic rate, such as daily, weekly, etc.

Potential candidates may search for available job openings through useof a search engine, such as any of the major search engines that areknown in the art. In this manner, search results may contain links tothe job openings in an area of the search results that is free of costto the company, e.g., the organic search results. Therefore, there is noneed for companies to pay for keyword advertisements to directcandidates to their career site, thereby saving the company extra costs,particularly where a company would otherwise need to pay multiple searchengines for a listing.

In some embodiments, the job listing optimization may be supplementedwith a pay-per-click campaign. Search strategies employed by potentialcandidates typically comprise several words, such as job title,location, and job-related keyword (e.g., Chicago nursing jobs). Suchsearch strategy may be referred to as a “long tail” keyword search.Generally, as described above, the jobsite may include category pagesoptimized for long tail keywords. Some search strategies, however,comprise extremely competitive keyword search strategies including, forexample, only a job title and location or only a job title andjob-related keyword. Such search strategy may be referred to as a “shorttail” keyword search. Short tail keywords (e.g., nursing jobs_areextremely competitive. In some embodiments, the job category pages maybe optimized for a competitive keyword search including a skill or ageographic keyword (e.g., Chicago nursing jobs). The optimized listingis then supplemented with a pay-per-click campaign on the competitiveshort tail keyword to gain candidate traffic until such time thatorganic listings product the desired results for any client site.

A user search on a search engine may result in the user being driven toa jobsite home page, such as shown in FIG. 2. The user is thus providedwith links to category pages matching their searched parameters. In someembodiments, the user may be directed to a category page, such as shownin FIG. 4, or a job listing page, such as shown in FIG. 7, from thesearch engine.

The category pages listing lists jobs according to geography, jobcategory, or other as set on the category pages. The user may click onone of the job categories listed to go to a category page.

The category page, an example of which is shown in FIG. 3, may listavailable jobs of that category. For example, available jobs of acertain type at a certain location. A user can select a job listing tobe directed to a job listing page. Such selection may be, for example,by clicking on the job listing.

The job listing page, an example of which is shown in FIG. 7, givesspecifics relating to that job listing. The user may be given the optionof applying for the job from the job listing page. Clicking on an applybutton can direct the user to a client site or may direct the user toanother application page.

Each of the jobsite, the category page, or the job listing page mayprovide the user with the option of subscribing for notifications of joblistings.

Although the present invention has been described with reference topreferred embodiments, persons skilled in the art will recognize thatchanges may be made in form and detail without departing from the spiritand scope of the invention.

1. A computer-implemented method for search engine optimization ofcareer listings on a network, the method comprising: establishing baseinformation for each of a plurality of careers at a company; creating atleast one category webpage based on the base information for displayover the network, the category webpage associated with a career listingcategory identifying the category webpage; creating a job listing pagefor each of the plurality of careers based on the respective baseinformation for each career; associating at least one job listing pagewith a category webpage, the category webpage including a network linkto each associated job listing page; and displaying the category webpageover the network to an end user job searcher; wherein the categorywebpage is persistent, such that at least one characteristic of thecategory webpage remains static on the network regardless of any changein job listing pages associated with the category webpage.
 2. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least onecharacteristic comprises information associated with a job function. 3.The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the at least onecharacteristic comprises information associated with a location.
 4. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining acategory page listing identifying a plurality of category webpages,including the category webpage.
 5. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 1, wherein respective Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) for atleast one of the created job listing pages each include a correspondingkeyword.
 6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein thecategory webpage and associated job listing pages include same similarcore job information.
 7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1,further comprising providing an apply button on at least one of thecreated job listing pages, and linking the apply button to anapplication page at a website of the company for the respective career.8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprisingdetermining, for at least one of the created job listing pages, at leastone keyword for inclusion in the created job listing page based on therespective base information.
 9. The computer-implemented method of claim8, wherein determining, for at least one of the created job listingpages, at least one keyword for inclusion in the created job listingpage based on the respective base information comprises determining aplurality of keywords for inclusion in the created job listing pagebased on the respective base information and creating a respectivekeyword sequence for the plurality of keywords.
 10. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising, for each ofthe at least one of the created job listing pages, determining anidentifier for the created job listing page and populating theidentifier with the plurality of keywords in the respective keywordsequence.
 11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein theidentifier comprises at least one of a title, filename, metadescription,and meta-keyword.
 12. The computer-implemented method of claim 8,wherein determining, for at least one of the created job listing pages,at least one keyword for inclusion in the created job listing page basedon the respective base information comprises scanning the respectivebase information for possible keywords and comparing the possiblekeywords against a database of keywords.
 13. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 12, wherein determining, for at least one of the createdjob listing pages, at least one keyword for inclusion in the created joblisting page based on the respective base information further comprisesrenaming one or more of the possible keywords using a renaming grid. 14.The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising, for atleast one of the created job listing pages, creating a feed comprisinginformation from the respective base information wherein the feed linksto the created job listing page.
 15. A computer-implemented method formanaging career opportunities at a company comprising: creating a jobsite for the company for display over a network; determining a hiringgoal including a location keyword and a skill keyword associated withthe hiring goal; creating a keyword sequence for the location keywordand the skill keyword; creating a category webpage for display throughthe job site and associating the category webpage with the locationkeyword and the skill keyword in the keyword sequence; creating a joblisting page based on an available career opportunity for the company;linking the job listing page to the category webpage; and displaying thecategory webpage over the network to an end user visitor via the jobsite; wherein the location keyword and the skill keyword of the categorywebpage remain static on the network regardless of the informationassociated with the job listing page, such that the category webpage ispersistent.
 16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, furthercomprising: tracking the end user visitor on the job site; andgenerating reports based on the tracking.
 17. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 16, wherein tracking the end user visitor comprisestracking a source from which the end user visitor arrived to the jobsite.
 18. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein trackingthe end user visitor comprises tracking each category page visited bythe end user visitor.
 19. The computer-implemented method of claim 16,wherein tracking the end user visitor comprises tracking whether the enduser visitor applied for a career opportunity.
 20. Acomputer-implemented method for managing career opportunities at acompany comprising: establishing base information for a career at acompany; determining a plurality of keywords for the career based on thebase information; determining a keyword sequence for the plurality ofkeywords; creating a job listing page for the career including theplurality of keywords in the keyword sequence; creating a categorywebpage based on the base information for display over a network, thecategory webpage associated with a career listing category identifyingthe category webpage, and associating the job listing page with thecategory webpage; creating a job website for the company including anetwork link to the category webpage; and displaying the job websiteover the network to an end user visitor; wherein the category webpage ispersistent, such that at least one characteristic of the categorywebpage remains static on the network regardless of any change in joblisting pages associated with the category webpage.
 21. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 20, wherein the steps ofdetermining a plurality of keywords and determining a keyword sequencefor the plurality of keywords are done by a service separate from thecompany.
 22. The computer-implemented method of claim 20, wherein thecategory webpage includes links to a plurality of job listingsassociated with the category webpage, including a link to the joblisting page.